Markets Weekly Recap – October 16th

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Key Takeaways

• Inflation pressures continue to accelerate as September prices rise 5.4% year-over-year
• Stocks gain traction, while the bitcoin rally continues as the coin retakes $60,000

Wall Street Stocks Driven by Earnings Reports

Wall Street stocks were highly volatile this week as traders had to assess a cocktail of economic reports and developments. Among them, inflation data arrived higher than expected. A surge in consumer prices lifted the annual pace of inflation to 5.4%. The prints surpassed last month’s 5.3% figures and increased concerns higher prices might stay longer than expected.

Moreover, on Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve released its meeting minutes. According to the document, Fed officials are ready to start dialing down the pandemic-era stimulus in November.

In more detail, the summary from the Sept. 21-22 FOMC meeting revealed the pace of reduction would most likely be $15bn a month. Market reaction to this update was limited. Additionally, Fed policymakers highlighted mounting worries that elevated inflation might persist well into next year.

Next, the earnings season for third-quarter financial results is already here. On that front, investment banks such as JPMorgan and Bank of America published the above-expectations earnings per share and third-quarter profit. On this note, stocks were largely powered by upbeat financial results from Wall Street mainstays.

Bitcoin Price Jumps to a Six-Month High at $60,000

The price of bitcoin, in the meantime, continued its upward swing from earlier in October. Boosted by positive developments and a brightening outlook, bitcoin surged to a weekly high of $60,000. To this end, the price marked a six-month high for the digital token. Even more important, it floated just a little over 8% from its all-time peak of $64,800 in April this year.

Other tokens, so-called alternative coins, also moved higher during the week. Ether, the digital currency powering the Ethereum network, rallied roughly 12% Wednesday through Thursday. The second-biggest coin reached a weekly high of over $3,850.

Overall, the entire cryptocurrency market managed to climb over $2.4tn, threatening to overtake the previous all-time high of $2.5tn reached in May this year.